Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, says a federal judge’s denying him a new trial is now “essentially a death sentence” amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“At 67 years old, with some underlying health problems including a history of asthma, I believe with the coronavirus it is essentially a death sentence,” Stone said during a Friday evening appearance on Fox News.
He said there was “flagrant,” “blatant,” and “even egregious” juror misconduct in his trial.
“In this case it is [indisputable] that the jury forewoman attacked both me and President Trump in 2019 social media postings, lied about that during jury selection, and then later deleted her Facebook page to cover her trails,” he said.
Forewoman Tomeka Hart had posted on social media before the trial criticizing Stone, but Judge Amy Berman Jackson said in an opinion this week that Ms. Hart’s actions don’t prove juror bias.
Mr. Trump weighed in late Friday, tweeting: “This is a disgraceful situation!”
The president offered the commentary as he shared a tweet from conservative activist Charlie Kirk that, among other things, included the line “RT for a FULL PARDON of Roger Stone!”
Stone was convicted on seven criminal counts last year, including lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia ahead of the 2016 election.
He was sentenced to more than three years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, is reportedly being allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence from home confinement after a number of inmates and staff members at the Otisville, N.Y. federal prison camp where Cohen is housed tested positive for the coronavirus.
Cohen is serving a three-year sentence stemming from campaign finance violations tied to hush money payments he made to silence women who claimed to have had affairs with Mr. Trump.
• Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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